Johor MB’s office to act against contract award rumours

JOHOR BARU,. The Johor Mentri Besar’s Office warned irresponsible parties that it will take legal action against those spreading false news that contractors received municipal projects worth more than RM868,000 in the state.

Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian said his office reviewed and investigated the allegation in an online poster involving the contractors allegedly awarded projects from the Kulai Municipal Council (MPKu) without an open tender.

“Checks with MPKu regarding the allegations in the viralled poster found it to be incorrect.

“Further checks also revealed that the companies mentioned in the posters were not appointed to carry out the work,” he said in a statement to the media late last night.

The statement, issued by Johor Mentri Besar’s press secretary, Abdul Hakim Ab Rahman, was in response to Facebook and WhatsApp posts alleging two contractors allegedly linked to Osman were awarded four projects worth a total of RM868,870.

The projects were said to be for upgrading road lamps on a federal road and local road, the construction of a retaining wall and a futsal field’s roof within the Kulai district under MPKu.

Osman said the state administration is committed to providing government projects through an open tender as stated in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Johor manifesto before.

Checks showed that the allegations started since two days ago on Facebook and has since been shared numerous times on the social media platform as well as in several WhatsApp groups.

This latest incident, follows an allegation two days ago that a Johor Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) division chief had unlawfully acted as a “broker” for businessmen and contractors who are keen to secure lucrative government projects.

The said individual was said to have “dropped” Osman’s name and claimed that he was the Johor mentri besar’s special officer when approaching civil servants to obtain government-related projects.